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ECOCLUB, Issue 94
Gopinath Parayil: Except for the 15% of domestic enquiries we get through telephone at our Bangalore office, the rest of our
B2C business comes through our website www.theblueyonder.com. Web stats records link these enquiries to key words defining
'environment-friendly' and 'socially responsible holidays'. Individual traveller's are becoming more and more sensitive to the
way they want to holiday and from our experiences, the trend is increasing beyond any doubts in originating markets like the
UK, USA, Germany, France and Netherlands. Though small in numbers, we are seeing a change amongst travellers from
Scandinavian countries who are looking for responsible holidays since last year.
ECOCLUB.com: Your company received the coveted First Choice Responsible Tourism Award 2006 in London, last
year. Has the award been of practical use to you in terms of business, or is it more or less mainly a moral reward?
Gopinath Parayil: I don’t think any of our guests decided to travel with us ONLY because we received a prestigious award.
But, I do believe that awards and recognitions, especially when the awards come through nomination from travellers, do
influence the decision of a traveller when she decides to book the holiday. It is true that RT award has increased the TBY -
brand value within the global travel industry. On a long term perspective, I think prestigious awards do make a difference. As a
small organisation, the award was morally uplifting for us. To receive an award out of some 1200 nominees under 13 different
categories reiterated our commitment to the work we were involved in and prompted us to explore various other possibilities of
Responsible Tourism to different parts of the country. The 2007 Conde Nast Award World Savers Award came to us in the
same year when India has been voted as the favourite country to travel by Conde Nast Traveller UK and this has brought in fair
amount of attention on us.
ECOCLUB.com: Some fear that with the growing fashion of CSR, otherwise ordinary tourism companies will also set
up foundations as a side-dish / publicity stunt to attract praise and customers, or for tax purposes, rather than to engage
in real social & environmental work. What is your view and experience?
Gopinath Parayil: When certain business models make 'certain business sense' to some people, they will definitely pursue short
cuts without much sweat. We have seen much greenwashing of pseudo projects in the name of eco tourism over the last decade
and I don't see any reason why this should not happen in the name of CSR or even Responsible Tourism. This is already
happening in originating markets including the UK where some companies promoting destinations like Kerala and rest of India
are positioning themselves as Responsible Tour operators when we cannot differentiate between them and the run-of-the-mill
operators. At the same time, even after all these tall claims, none of the benefits from RT is percolating to the lower strata of the
society. Probably this is the time; responsible travellers should become the whistle blowers and report back on their experiences
with these ‘Irresponsible Tourism Operators’.
ECOCLUB.com: Overall, do you feel that Indian hotels and tour operators increasingly respect or ignore the
environment? Are you optimistic that environmental responsibility ideals go deep enough in the Indian tourism sector so
that voluntary action is sufficient, or do state governments need to make drastic interventions?
Gopinath Parayil: The trend is by and large to ignore the environment, barring a few properties and tour operators in the length
and breadth of India. Irrespective of short term interventions by state Governments, what is lacking in India is a national policy
on Responsible tourism. Until and unless this is incorporated into the National Planning commission's agenda, I personally
believe that no significant change will happen. Also, unless Responsible tourism becomes a market driven initiative, I don’t see
much happening from the Government level. Hence, other small initiatives by the tourism industry will remain only in the
periphery levels.
ECOCLUB.com: As someone who has studied Disaster Management, do you feel that there is an adequate system in
place to protect communities and tourism from natural disasters, as well as the associated hysteria. How has the
Chikungunya fever outbreak in parts of Kerala in Autumn 2006 and again in June 2007 affected tourism?
Gopinath Parayil: Though India has gained tremendous knowledge and capacity in intervention on the onset of a disaster and
post disaster management, the story on disaster preparedness and planning is more or less the same as it was a decade before.
Albeit quite late, it’s good to see that a disaster management authority is being set up in Kerala. As long as the command control
is not defined, disaster management would end up becoming disastrous management as it happened twice during the floods in
Mumbai recently. According to the industry feedback, Chikungunya did not affect the tourism industry in 2006 at all. Initially
though there were fears of cancellations. The statistics available on the Tourism department website actually shows an increase
in the inflow of travellers. Since the statistics are not available at present, it is not possible to comment based on any
speculation. However, our interaction with stakeholders in the industry reveals a different picture in contrast to the official
statements.
ECOCLUB.com: You have studied computers and are also an avid blogger. Where do you see the Internet going, in
terms of its relevance to tourism practitioners and with reference to India?
Gopinath Parayil: Like it is happening in many other parts of the world, travel agents will have lesser role to play in B2C
transactions as internet provides customers the opportunity to research and purchase holidays online. With travel agents
